Halo: Special Tactics  Sigma Octanas iv
by Vincent .A.J Tenia
Summary: Vincent Alexander is the leader of Marine detachment in ONI section II known as STORM, he leads high risk offensive missions against the covenant. At Sigma Octanas iv he attempts to drive back the covenant by destroying an Assault Carrier.


_A lone Warthog speeding through the desert of __**Sigma Octanas iv**__, a Covenant Assault Carrier hovering over the dunes. The Warthog's only occupant, wearing an ODST semi-powewred combat suit (minus the helmet) his brown hair frays out in the hot desert wind, his eerie light blue eyes protected by CPI sunglasses. Armed to the teeth, he was prepared for a suicide mission of his own conception._

Lt. Colonel Alexander sped towards the Assault carrier, recon had informed him that they just begun deploying a ground base, he didn't have much time. The cruiser was only a minute away, just over the next dune and he'd be on top of them. Contact from fire team Serpent. They had engaged the enemy. This was his only shot, and he was going to take it. He roared over the hill, saw a flash and the next thing he knew he was in an over turned Warthog next to the gravity lift. He reached for the first HAVOK nuke and armed it for 30 seconds

'_One left…'_

He jumped onto the gravity lift and took a look around the camp, he'd really made a mess for just one hog and he didn't even know what he did. He felt the strangest floating sensation as he rose into the air, a flash of purple light, then he was inside the carrier. No contacts.

'_Did they even know i'd survived?'_

The room had storage creats, a tank and ghosts dotted all over the place, there were four corridor entrances, two on either side of him. There were also four larger doors at right angles to the corridor entrances, Alexander assumed they were for vehicles. He heard a beeping noise as one of the corridors opened to his left.

'_I got the jump on them!'_

He pressed against the wall by the door and levelled his MA5B assault rifle, he could hear little footsteps, getting closer. He jumped out from cover and squeezed the trigger, a burst of 5 rounds came out and three of the grunts fell as he slipped behind the opposite wall.

'_3 left, two jackals 1 grunt…'_

He peaked around the corner with his MA5B and squeezed the trigger while taking aim.

'_Headshot!'_

One of the jackals dropped, purple blood oozing from the holes in either side of its skull, his burst caught the last grunt too, rupturing its breathing apparatus and exploding, the last jackal yelped as it was engulfed in flame.

He ran up the corridor, trying to remember the layout he'd seen on that crystal, _'Bridge is in the centre, so I have to go...'_

He spun a 1 quarter turn.

_'This way.'_

Alexander wasn't really sure; he just thought second guessing at this point would likely get him killed faster than being wrong. A shock wave rocked the ship, some of the walls begun to vent a misty gas.

'_I don't think It'd be safe to breathe that stuff…'_

Alexander picked himself up and kept running. After a minute with no contacts, he begun to think.

'_Why is there no security, I've been able to move without resistance. Either I've been really lucky or this ship is empty, and therefore not worth destroying... Screw it!'_

Alexander took this opportunity to arm his final HAVOK nuclear grenade; he set the timer for five minutes then activated it.

'_WHY! Why don't I think before I do things, I'm bloody lost on this thing, so I set my nuke to blow it before figuring out an escape plan! Bloody Genius!'_

Alexander didn't have time to reconsider now, he was already on the move and the clock was ticking. He bolted down the corridor right to the very end, the door was locked, but it had a unique symbol on it.

'_Control room?'_

He turned to his left and saw a jackal patrolling the hall.

'_Perfect, sneak attack!'_

The door at the end of the hall opened, he saw covenant fliers.

'_Banshees!'_

Lt. Colonel Alexander found his way off the boat.

He begun to double-time it down the hall, he squeezed a burst mid stride and hit the jackal in the back 4 times, it fell in a lump on the floor.

'_30 seconds!'_

Lt. Colonel Alexander's time was running out, if he wasn't off the ship soon he was a dead man. As he sprinted down the hall his eye caught a glimpse of something, it gave him just enough time to prepare for impact. A massive blow caught him in the face, and despite his momentum, he was flung back by the force of the blow. His CPI glasses shattered destroying all video record of his mission and his assault rifle landed 20cm away from his head, he hadn't seen it but he knew it was their. He looked up at what had hit him, the shimmer that had caught his eye turned out to be a covenant camouflage, but what really surprised him was that the alien he saw was the new addition he made to UNSC records, and one of the first covenant he encountered, on Troy[1. Still partially 'invisible' the beast cracked its wrist. There was a bright flash and a glowing sword had appeared as if from no where.

'_Its going to skewer me!'_

As the creature raised the Energy sword and targeted Lt. Colonel Alexander, he reached back for his rifle and with luck grabbed the trigger, he levelled it and squeezed. Bullets peppered the beast, tearing through flesh and shredding foreign metals from its armour. He kept firing until he saw the flash of the sword, it disappeared.

'_No time to reload, gotta move! 15 seconds!'_

He pulled himself up and in the same motion sprinted to the banshee he saw earlier and jumped in. He started pushing random controls and holographic buttons, the Banshee lurched to life and puffed into the air before slamming onto the deck.

'_So that's altitude, that turns, so this accelerates!'_

The banshee rose again this time in fluid motion out the hanger doors.

'_4, 3, 2…'_

He still felt uneasy, he was out yes, but he had to keep flying, with so little time before detonation, it had to be in a straight line, lest he be killed in the ensuing explosion.

_That's time! 4 minutes to detonation.'_

He decided to contact the outpost his team was based at.

"Tenebaum outpost this is STORM[2 leader come in."

He received something unexpected over the radio, verbal abuse, from Colonel J. Jones he'd told to evacuate the outpost.

"God damn it Colonel, this was you're great plan, send my fire team to get killed while you steal a single covenant flier, Jesus! When you get back here I'm having you court martialled, you hear me!?"

Alexander ignored his comments "Sergeant MacKay, is everything still in place?" "Yes sir."

"Good tell fire team Serpent to regroup at the outpost, I won't make it to the rendezvous, send a hog out to get me."

"Yes…. Sir someone just left to get you… I think it was a rookie…"

"Well great whoever it is gets a promotion when I see 'em."

He cut out the radio before more abuse was herald over it, just as he did, he heard the familiar sound of plasma fire, he was being followed.

Alexander searched the control panel, he was pretty sure this wasn't the fastest it went, since two others caught up so quickly.

'_3 minutes'_

He couldn't alter his current flight path so he needed speed, despite the danger he started hitting random buttons again. First he touched the orange glowing blob, the banshee fired blue bolts of plasma, then he touched the green glowing blob, the banshee fired a large green bolt of plasma

'_Weapons console. Useful but not what I need.'_

He touched another glowing symbol, it had two glowing blue bars, moving upward in a tight, isosceles 'V' shape, there was a lime green glow at the bottom of the 'V' he placed his finger between it and pushed forward, the banshee lurched forward at double the speed it was previously travelling

'_Boost, sweet.'_

Now he knew how they caught up so fast, it seemed as though he'd live after all.

'_2 minutes'_

After some more time staring at the console he'd found there was a pattern to the glowing orbs of doom in the cock pit, and several special symbols that, he assumed performed special tasks, like radio, or imaging. He released the boost for a moment

'_Do or die…'_

He pressed, the boost to full, and tapped the altitude control, his banshee flung upward into a back flip, he cancelled by tapping boost again, he was suspended upside down and facing the two banshees following him. He tapped the green blob, the blast slammed into the first pursuing banshee's tail, but it was descending rapidly, he turned, now he too was descending rapidly, he fired the blue plasma as he turned to the second pursuing banshee, it swerved but not without taking some damage. Metres from the ground, he tapped the strafe control and boost, once again cancelling mid mauver, he was now upright and heading at an almost 90 degree angle to his initial flight path.

'_1 minute 30'_

He still had one banshee to deal with, but he also still had to get further away from ground zero. He put himself back on course and maxed out the boost to almost triple speed.

'_30 seconds'_

Time went by faster now, he just wanted it to end, he stopped paying attention to the banshee still chasing him, a fatal mistake. He lost his boost suddenly.

'_What!?'_

The entire console flashed red and orange.

'_Over heated!?'_

The following banshee took its chance and ascended to begin a diving attack, Lt. Colonel Alexander had just realised this.

'_Son-of-a'_

A new star appeared on the horizon, the had carrier exploded. The EMP knocked his banshee's controls out, and the shockwave of the explosion, rocked his flier so hard it was now upside down hurdling towards the desert below

'_Thank goodness it's just…'_

He blacked out upon impact. The second banshee wasn't so lucky, at the raised altitude and nose dive trajectory, it collided with the ground nose first, the banshee disintegrated into the shifting sand.

Lt. Colonel Alexander came to in the cockpit of the downed Banshee he had stolen, at first he was unsure of where he was or what had happened. He remembered the flash, after the sand dune, A covenant tower was firing at him with heavy plasma cannons, he'd landed on a squad of grunts, crushing them under the 2 tonne Warthog, he remembered speeding towards the tower and knocking out its main supports, as he swerved to avoid an upcoming plasma grenade in front of the gravity lift, his Hog begun to slide and topple, the grenade exploded, sending the Warthog and himself rolling over to the gravity lift, he banged his head when the Hog stopped rolling.

'_So that's what happened! Damn I'm lucky…'_

He took a quick look around the cockpit, the banshee's controls weren't responding, the thing was dead. He pulled the only familiar object in the cockpit, the lever for the canopy. He strained as he pulled the canopy open manually with the lever, a stream of sand begun flooding into the cockpit.

'_Oh sh-'_

He begun cracking the lever faster, a mass of sand poured into the canopy but left a small space of visible light, just at the top of the rear. Lt. Colonel Alexander let out a sigh of relief. He didn't like confined spaces like this, he hastily begun to dig himself a big enough exit. As he pulled himself up off the hot sand he heard a familiar sound, he cocked and loaded his weapon. A Warthog sped along the desert edge, his ride back to base; he clicked the radio twice quickly, then three times slowly. STORM signal for 12.30 from current orientation, the Hog immediately turned and begun roaring toward his location.

"Whoever you are, I herby promote you…"

"To Sergeant or Lt, sir?" Corporal Rebecca Stoner, she'd improved much since they first picked her up from fire team Arson. Her instincts were bam on most of the time and she had the talent to both work in team or solo, one of the most disrespected under his command though.

"Lt Stoner, you volunteered?"

"Just thought you could use a hand sir."

'_She'd earned a reputation for being a gun blazer, if what she got ain't working, use something that shoots more bullets…'_

Lt. Colonel Alexander didn't exactly disapprove of this tactic, though he preferred to use as few rounds as possible to eliminate his targets, he thought, every good commander has their own style, and those who have to emulate the tactics of past commanders, don't deserve their rank. That was the main reason he trusted Sir Admiral Hood, a commander that, while being aware of the effective tactics of others, still preferred to do it his own way. Other leaders such as Commander Keyes were among his list of respected officers, though Keyes wasn't on that list till recently. Jacob Keyes the commander that gave the UNSC a fighting chance at Sigma Octanas iv. They were on their way back at full speed when the now Lt spoke up.

"Sir, you could have easily died in that stunt. Do you even think before you come up with these plans, you put lives at risk you know."

She waited while Alexander pondered a response. She knew he was positivley responsive to criticism.

"Most of the time…" he replied

"I could care less if I lived or died, its only when my death is imminent that my gut forces me to act, as a commander though, I prepare these suicide operations because I believe in the team and the enemy would never expect something like this. Would you seriously expect one Warthog to be a threat to an Assault Carrier? I caught them off guard with that one, that's all."

"But thanks to you're crazy plan, were one step closer to saving this ball of dirt from being glassed." She paused for a moment before continuing, pondering weather that was the right way to put what so many had given their lives for.

"Sir, despite what you think about your own life, there are those that care about you. I mean don't you have a family somewhere?"

"That's enough Lt." Alexander sounded agitated, Rebecca was certain he had a family, but maybe it was something he'd rather forget.

"We care about you sir. STORM needs you, to keep it on track, to keep the trainee's working their arses off, to keep the vets pushing themselves further than they thought they could go. You are needed sir…" Alexander cut in

"Maybe that's why I'm still alive." There was an uneasy tension between them for the rest of the trip. Rebecca regretted starting that conversation, she knew she shouldn't have pushed him to talk but she did anyway. They pulled into the front gate of the outpost just as an Albatross landed in.

"Strictly off the record Rebecca, I know you care and I appreciate your concern but you shouldn't go after a guy like me, you'll just be looking for trouble."

"Sir!?!" Rebecca was definitley surprised by what Alexander was implying.

_'Is it that obvious?'_

"First off I'm your commanding officer; it would be against regulations for us to…" He trailed off, but picked up at the second point. "Second if you couldn't tell I've got a death wish, I lead nearly every op I command sooner or later, I'm gunna bite-the-dust." Rebecca suddenly felt the need to get as much off her chest as possible.

"First off since when dose STORM give a crap about regulations, almost everyone has unique uniforms and over length hair, secondly what the hell do you know about what I'm looking for in a guy, I could be one of those crazy emotional types that has a need for damaged goods or something. And further more…"

"Suffering insubordination already Colonel?" Colonel Jones had over heard just the last few words of their argument, and assumed they had been talking about equipment, though Rebecca didn't know that, Alexander however did.

"Sir! Excuse me Sir!" Rebecca saluted then headed to the gathering of STORM troops. Colonel Jones continued "You can scratch the court-martial son, satellite intel suggests you just cracked the covenant soft spot, they seem to be retreating from this region." Alexander suspected something.

"But that's not why you're skipping the court-martial, is it?"

"Nope. Section III just called, said they got a job for you and your boys. There's an abandoned base around here that's still got some sensitive data and experimental equipment in it, your orders are to prevent the covenant from getting anything out of it, while evacuating the area. Are we clear?"

"Crystal clear sir…" Alexander feigned a salute and Colonel Jones left for the Albatross, he turned as if forgetting one thing

"Lt, the covenant retreat, happens to be in this direction, and they're en mass so best of luck to you." Colonel Jones feigned a salute, with an arrogant smirk and continued on his way.

'_Not much time to get ready.'_

Alexander pulled up the wide band radio

"Alright STORM, Colonel Jason Jones has just passed authority of this operation to me, lets get prepped, we need to set up a tactical nuke inside the outpost, remote detonation. Then we need to prep the mine field, bunch up the locust mines in layers, no cross detonating patters either, the Grunt's will be in front."

_'Standered covenant tactics.'_

"We need heavy gun positions on the canyon walls, as well as well guarded sniper points. Five Hogs, two transport, two light guns, one gauss. Our evac target is 15 clicks north north-east so the Gauss and one of each of the other two need to be placed on the eastern canyon bank, I'll have command on the Western bank, Sergent Mackay has command on the Eastern bank, Lt Stoner has the remote detonator for the tactical nuke, she'll take a scout party ahead to the base, Colonel Jones will supply the access codes once your there. Anyone not involved in the primary fire teams or the scout party should make the outpost look as occupied as possible, before leaving with Colonel Jones. Oh and Colonel don't forget to have an Albatross waiting at the back of the base. Is everyone clear?"

The radio let of a loud simultaneous click, confirming the order. STORM members scrambled, putting up test fire dummies, and dressing them in marine uniform, setting up turrets on automatic fire, a couple of dummy loaded Warthogs. Most of them knew their tasks, Colonel Alexander's team would be Delta and Gamma, Sergeant MacKay had Beta and Zeta teams. The now Lt Stonner was already leader of Alpha so it was obvious that would be the scout party, but she did have some changes to make. She waited near the Albatross, with a pelican on standby for the drop and survalence.

"Pvt Arthur! Yo! Might need you're brains during my op! You're in Alpha now!"

Pvt Arthur had only recently been transferred to STORM, actually she wasn't sure he'd even had a real training session yet. They had become fast friends, but mainly because she was interested in him, and the fact that he prefered a different form of entertainment to most of the marines in STORM. Arthur was one of the only troops, even among the trainees not to know about how she was responsible for their now brutal training scheduel. She sat in the same vacinity[3 as the Colonel but they hardly talked, she had been eager to make some friends. Arthur saluted.

"Is this a permanent move Lt?"

"It may be if you're as useful as you're file implies." She turned to her team, now consisting of 13. "Simons, Joseph, Charlie, get on the big bird, your not going on this one." The three privates were about to speak out but remembered her recent promotion. They saluted and trotted to the Albatross drop ship. "On the bird boys and girls. Go! Go! Go!"

-Based on Bungie's Halo

By Vincent .A.J Tenia

1 I am aware of the story, and that Troy is a UNSC planet of the inner colonies only recently glassed before the events of Halo 2, however i have yet to find the name of an outer colony glassed between 2544 and 2545.

2 STORM Corps – acronym: Special Tactics Operations and Reconnaissance Marine Corps. An elite marine detachment operating within ONI section II. Often used to recruit new soldiers from the outer colonies, serves a practical function engaging in Black Ops for section III. STORM has a wide degree of freedom over other units.

3 vacinity, in ship canteens and other gathering areas for STORM before ops etc.


End file.
